NPC: Ash

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Due to multiple options when speaking, text below may not be in comprehensive order.

While looking cautiously at the dimly-lit room, you realize that unlike all other creatures here, this particular Troll does not seEL-DB.comem to wander around senselessly, nor to want to attack you. On the contrary, it seems to look at your every move quite attentively.

Get closer

*You approach it till you are almost face to face. He stares into your eyes for a moment, then his lips part, and a cavernous voice utters...* You too? You too want to add your scorn to the burden of my misfortunes? Don't deny it, I can read horror, disdain and contempt in your gaze.

Who are you?

My name is, or was, Ash. Now that name is carved on a tombstone in the cemetery, whose shadow at sunset screens the spot where my body lies.

... your body?

My body. Yes, my body at least rests in peace. *You catch a sad smile on his trollish face.* But of course, it's not that part of the story that makes you wonder, right? Ask your questions then, I have time.

Can all trolls talk?

Trolls? No, 'talk' is too much. They have their own language: gestures, growls, and hitting each other with their fists or clubs is all they need. I have learned some of their ways, but I tend to stay on my own as much as possible. Don't expect any Troll tribe to welcome you with poetry.

Are you dead?

This, unfortunately, is the most difficult question of all to answer. I have asked it to myself countless times. In a sense, I am dead. Yet, I desire to die - which means I must be alive. But would you call this 'being alive', if your life is such that you crave death? And, can death put an end to it, when after dying you will still be alive?

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Why then should I hope for death, to put an end to life, if my life is as terrible as death itself, and even the most horrible death cannot save me from life? Or, maybe I am really dead, and what I am living is the life of the dead? Yet, you live; and we are talking. Hence I know I am not dead - or that you are dead as well. Are you?

OMG... I'm lost!

So you can imagine how lost I felt when I first opened my eyes, raised my hands, and saw the hands of a EL-DB.comtroll instead of my own. Add to that the sound of Lord Quinticus laughing, and you will get the picture.

Hell no, I'm not dead

Let's hope what is true now, may still be true when you finally leave this accursed place. So, if you are alive, I must be alive as well. Or maybe, Lord Quinticus was right, and those that live can talk to the dead at times.

Can you tell me the whole story?

My name was Ash, as I said. I was a junior clerk in Lord Quinticus' household. It was not a great life, but it was still better than ploughing the fields... and moreover, I had Marietta with me. She was the most beautiful girl in all of Kilaran, and second assistant cook at the mansion. Our joy was perfect the day we married. Life then was easy, we had not a worry in the world. Until...

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Until, one day, the attacks began. New monstrous creatures were coming to South Kilaran, and even though Lord Quinticus had organized a small standing army to keep them at bay, accidents happened. I had told Marietta to stay safe inside the mansion, I swear! And she had promised me... But then, she was sent on an errand and dared not refuse the bidding.

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That very day, the great battle at the bridge happened, in which we were utterly defeated. Lord Quinticus and just a handful of companions returned to the manor, to win the struggle by force of arms. It was then, I was told, that he started calling on foreign witches and warlocks, and by his meddling with them, brought great misfortunes upon us all.

But... Marietta?

Ah, how memory tries to steer from that painful day! Marietta had been sent out, and she did not return. It was only several months later that her bracelet, a bracelet I had given her the day she had accepted my proposal, was found along the river banks by Bakart. By then, Lord Quinticus had been researching the enemy's magic quite intensively, so in my despair I believed him when he offered to help.

Which offer?

He told me that he knew magic that could let me see and talk to Marietta once more. It was a risky business, he said, but he was confident that I could make it, if my love of her was strong enough. Ah, how his words were noble and sweet! How the highest hopes can at times lead men to the utmost disgrace! But alas, his deeds - cursed be his name - proved to be as poisonous as his words were honeyed.

Did you accept?

I accepted. I was too eager to have Marietta with me again, even for a second, and hope obscured my sight, so I could not see the dark ways of my employer. He brought me to a cell in the dungeon; in the nextEL-DB.com cell, a savage troll, recently captured, was being held. Two priests in black robes with dark-red cloaks started chanting, while Lord Quinticus was using Life Drain spells on the troll, till the beast died.

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At that point, he let out a high cry. I remember as if it were yesterday... his temple vein was bulging, and he had broke a sweat. His eyes were fixed on me, and had a strange look of savage satisfaction, when he muttered something. I heard a loud BANG, and then, for all I knew... nothing. I was dead.

But you are alive now

Haven't we been there already? Want to start a discussion again, or hear the rest of the story?

Story

Well, I was dead, as I was saying. It is not barely as bad as they say, being dead. Almost enjoyable, compared to... what I am now. I think I was somehow expecting to see Marietta after all. But after being dead for a short while, I opened my eyes again, and the first thing I saw were my hands - a troll's hands. Then I looked in the cage next to mine, and sure as hell - there was my body there, dead!

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Lord Quinticus was furiously yelling at the priests. 'You had promised me the fool would gain Mortos' gift from the Troll!', he was shouting. I realized later that he was expecting me to become immortal, and that the story about Marietta had just been bait. But it didn't work quite as well: instead of me gaining the immortality of the slain Troll, the Troll gained my human soul. The old Ash died that day.

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So, in short... I cannot properly die, and should I ever die, I would return alive after a little while. And in exchange for that... I am a troll. And, what is worse, separated forever from Marietta. Not even death can rejoin us now. *He stops talking and closes his eyes.*

Battle on the bridge

It was a most glorious battle, I was told. But I wasn't there to tell; what I know first hand is that, of all the troops that Lord Quinticus had amassed, the remains I could count on my fingers.

Why don't you attack me?

Why should I? You seem a civil enough fellow. And, I have no reason to fear you, reallyEL-DB.com. Try anything, if you don't believe me. Thaddeus sure doesn't seem to believe my tale.

Bakart

He was a dear friend to me when I was human. You see, he would plan gaming events for Lord Quinticus. As a clerk, it was also my duty to help him with the invites. We became close in that process. He was the one to break the news to me about Marietta. I wonder what happened to Bakart... I haven't seen or heard of him in years.

Thaddeus

I'm sure if you continue your journey through this manor, you'll come across a rather ferocious man slaying away at the ogres, orcs and other beasts that inhabit the basement. If you could kindly convince him not to attack me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Goodbye

I hope you learned something from my story. What you should have learned, I myself cannot tell. But nothing comes to pass in Draia without a purpose - and I hope one day, I'll know mine. Farewell!